Finding Our Groove {Adventures in Homeschooling}

We are finding our groove. We had a good week last week. It was not perfect, but we are a few steps ahead of where we were last week. There were no tears and my daughter was motivated to do her school work and just about finished all of her assignments. I am still trying to find a way to get it all done — working full time, grocery shopping, meal planning and schooling, but I know that with God all things are possible. My house is a lot messier this week than last, but that’s okay. I am off on Mondays so hopefully I will get caught up!

We will officially begin science this week. However, I am looking for yet another Language Arts/Grammar curriculum. The prior one was not working for my daughter, as she had no interest in reading the books that were recommended to be read with the curriculum. But this is the beauty of homeschooling. If something isn’t working, I get to change it. I love the freedom to be able to taylor her assignments to what will work best for her.

Here are the three Grammar curriculums I am considering. My daughter is in 7th grade but I am starting her with 5th grade lessons so that I can assess where she is.

Rod and Staff English 5. This come highly recommended by a good friend of mine who is a homeschooler. The amount of reading for each lesson may overwhelm my daughter. I am still figuring out if she is a visual or auditory learning. I believe she is auditory, so having to read a lot of directives can make her tune out. But I cannot overlook the fact that this curriculum is highly praised among homeschoolers.

Sonlight Grammar 5. This may be a better option, as the daily reading and directives are minimal. I love that it incorporates passages from well known literature. This one looks like it would peek my daughter’s interest.

Easy Grammar 5. This looks by far the easiest, but it may be too easy, and not quite enough. Although, I have heard great things about this curriculum.

As you can see, I have no experience with this sort of thing. Any recommendations you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I know it’s all trial and error. But since finances are tight, I am hoping that whatever I choose will work for at least the rest of this year.

For Literature, I found a great FREE resource at EasyFunSchool. There are many books recommended and all of the vocabulary words, comprehension questions and activities are completely free to download. I have given my daughter the list and asked her to pick some books that interest her. I am so excited to have found this website. One of the things we are considering doing is reading the books aloud together.

Nature Hunt.

Last Monday we decided to take a nature walk. It was a great time of bonding while we discussed nature, and how God created it all. I also got an hour walk in! Here’s a collage I made of our walk:

I am praying you all have a great week!

Until next time!

Barbie

Seeking beauty in the ordinary and embracing life to the fullest. Thank you for stopping by and come again soon!

I used Easy Grammar Plus with my 3 children. They have all graduated now. Two of them chose to attend college. On their college placement tests, they proved to be ready for college level English. I plan on using Easy Grammar as I homeschool my grandchildren.

Thank you Ada! I so appreciate your response. I was trying to decide and was having a hard time. You are the third person who has chimed in with Easy Grammar, so I am going to give that a try! Thank you!

I used Easy Grammar Plus for Josiah all through Junior High and HS. Excellent Grammar Curriculum! We also did the full SonLight curriculum for a couple of years though it was rough with a non-reader! EVERYTHING was a read aloud! Glad you are seeing some positives!

By the way … I was going to tell you… full time employed homeschoolers do exist. (My sister is one, she’s also a pastor’s wife which is another full time job.) They just don’t have time to read or write blogs! =)

Thank you so much Beth. I have had many great responses about Easy Grammar. I will be ordering it later this week. Be watching for an update! I know what you mean about no time to read or write blogs. I think I am crazy for trying to write for 31 Days, but I have some drafts done so that is helping. As far as the reading, it’s been hard as well. First things first! Have a blessed week!